.

I am a professor in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of Maryland, College Park. I've been on the faculty here since 1988. Before coming to Maryland, I was Director of Environmental Economics at the Western Consortium for Public Health in Berkeley, California and a Pew Fellow in Health Policy at the University of California Medical Center in San Francisco.

I have a Ph.D. in agricultural and resource economics from the University of California, Berkeley. My undergraduate degree (from the University of Chicago) is in linguistics. I tell my colleagues that linguistics (post-Chomsky, at least) and economics have a lot in common, but they don't believe me. I speak Italian, some Spanish, and some French.

My experience in policy positions includes a year as senior economist for agriculture, natural resources (1993-1994), and international trade on the staff of the President's Council of Economic Advisers and service as a committee member on National Research Council committees on precision agriculture (1996-1997) and genetically modified pest protected plants (1999-2000) and as a consultant to the committee on the future of pesticides in U.S. agriculture (1998-2000). I spent the summer of 1998 as a Fulbright Scholar teaching the economics of pest management in Argentina.

I served as co-editor of the American Journal of Agricultural Economics from 2008 to 2012. I was elected a fellow of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association in 2010. Other awards include a bronze medal from the University of Helsinki, the Publication of Enduring Quality Award from the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, the University of Maryland College of Agriculture and Natural Resources Dean Gordon Cairns Award for Distinguished Creative Work and Teaching in Agriculture, and the University of Maryland College of Agriculture and Natural Resources Alumni Association Award for Excellence in Research.